Page 75 - South Mississippi Living - May, 2016

LIVEOAKTREES 500-year-old Friendship Oak is Coast’s most famous tree
The live oak trees
are an enduring
symbol of South
Mississippi. None
is more enduring
than the 500-year-
old Friendship Oak that’s
the majestic centerpiece of
the University of Southern
Mississippi Gulf Park campus
in Long Beach. Perseverance
Oaks, a project of Hancock
Bank, will make sure that
future generations can enjoy the
beauty of live oaks. The multi-
year, multi-faceted partnership
will help replenish live oak
populations, primarily with offspring of the genetically superior landmark live oak, in Gulf Coast communities hit by major storms.
With project partners Mississippi State University Coastal Research and Extension Center, the Sun Herald and
USM, community leaders planted three Friendship Oak saplings in each of two Coast green spaces, the Long Beach Town Green and Gulfport’s Jones Park. Elementary school students from Long Beach and Gaston Point elementary schools attended the Perseverance Oaks tree-plantings.
story by Lynn Lofton photo by John Stricklin
Hancock Bank President and CEO John Hairston said the tree-plantings sowed the first signs of this long-term effort to help preserve, green, and grow the local landscape for future generations. He and the bank’s associates hope Perseverance Oaks saplings will grow and thrive with local communities and young people.
“One day, these students’ grandchildren may play beneath the branches of the trees we plant today. We hope they will be as awed and inspired by the adult trees as we are by the Friendship Oak and other live oaks from the Bay of St. Louis to the Pascagoula River,” he said.
THIS TIME I WANT SOMETHING
DEPENDABLE
406 N. SEAL AVENUE LONG BEACH
228.864.8577
jerr yslawnmower.us
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